My Dahon X10 Folding bike

Mountains, Rivers, Trees  ... Seoul hides them near the bike paths.

This is my bike.  I have been taking it to work when I can.  It is a Dahon X10, it does everything that it says it will on the box, it is fast, it is light, it does fold up quickly. 

This being the blogosphere I do feel that I have to give a bit more information about this bike so that others that are considering buying one can be well informed.  I have done 350 kilometres on it so far, usually the 17 Km run to work, a few longer jaunts on the weekend though.

First off it IS a great bike.  The frame is stiff, likely due to the aluminum hydroform frame and the experience that dahon has with making the folding joints.  Having such small wheels and being so light it accelerates like nothing else.  It really upsets cars at the traffic lights and is nimble enough to ride through peak hour pedestrian scrambles near Seoul's metro stations.  It really does feel like a proper bike. 

There is one little issue however.

It might be trying to kill me. 

The stiffness of the frame combined with small hard wheels and the width of the rear gear cassette has made for a bit of a problem.  It does tend to throw the chain.  It hasn't happened when I am standing on the pedals yet, but if it does I will be leaving a few red marks on the pavement.  After trying to tweak the setup as much as possible my friendly bike mechanic gave up and organised to get a chain guard for me.  My bike is having a sleep over at the bike shop tonight while he gets colour matched anodised aluminium bolts to put the chain guard on with.  In all my years of riding a bike I never knew that a chain guard is not to guard you from the chain.  A better name would be chain guide, as its true function is to guide the chain back onto the gears if it jumps out toward your leg.  That should hopefully keep the chain on even if it does jump around a bit.  That is the plan anyway.  I have noticed that nycewheels bike shop in New York have switched the 10 cog cassette to an 8 cog cassette, still keeping the 11-36T ratios.   That might help but the changes probably wouldn't be as smooth.   I do strongly suggest that Dahon, and Tern who might have similar problems with their X10, look into this issue.  I understand it is very important for selling to have a super light bike, and yes 9.2 kilos is light for a folding bike, but the aluminium chain ring weighs nearly nothing and 9.25 kilos is not a deal breaker for anyone.  The lights I need to commute in the evening weigh more !

Oh if you do need a bike shop and are in Seoul, I can't recommend afrobike (http://afrobike.co.kr/) enough.  Talk about bend over backwards.  I took the bike there to have it assembled after it arrived in a box from an internet seller.  They put it together for a fee, and have now sort of assumed responsibility for its well-being.  They replaced a part that was damaged in the shipping of the bike and helped us get a refund for that part. I have been in there every other week with the chain issue and haven't paid another cent and they always greet me with a concerned smile.  If you can get service like that in Korea, you should be able to get it anywhere.  Have that example in mind next time you visit your mechanic and see if they measure up. 

The stiffness of the frame does also result in a fair bit of vibration being transferred into your 'sit bones' but I am getting a little more conditioned  with time.  Also bear in mind that if you adjust the bars into their full forward position then it doesn't fold quite as neatly as it otherwise would.  That is not an issue though, I quite happily carry it up five floors to the apartment, and it sits in a compact little bundle next to my desk at work.

 It is quite quick too.  93 gear inches is a bit less than the 108 to 118 that the big racers have, but my knees have had a pretty tough run and I don't know if they are up to the task of pushing those big gears at the moment. Furthermore, I don't spend that much time on the road playing with cars, and when I do it is short bursts between traffic lights. The 93 gear inches is enough that I spend most of my time overtaking the lycra clad ajoshi on bike paths as it is.  I can get up around 40 km/h when I need to ( I am quite sure I could go faster, but the chain thing make me a little cautious about standing on the pedals).  The bike is stable enough, I have gotten it up to 48 km/h and it was quite steady.  I was a bit worried about the fact that it only has 14 spokes on each of the wheels, but it hasn't missed a beat so far the wheels are still straight even though I have hit a few bumps that jumped out at me. The brakes are great, and I have needed them a few times.  The bike is composed and well behaved even when starting to powerslide.   

I am hoping to get another 150 k's in before things start icing up, it is great fun riding about and so much better to go to work on this than in the train.  I might get sweaty, but it is my sweat and I get to ride along the Han river!.


 If anyone out there found this while trying to decide on whether or not to buy a Dahon x10, feel free to get in contact.  I understand that the distribution outside of Asia has been a little light so far.